Drainer basket



Dec. 19,1939; H. J. WATRAL 2,184,245

DRAINER BASKET Filed Aug. 31, 1.93s 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 l j l2,

mm WA mm,

INVENTOR hf; ATTORNEY,

De.-19.,1939. H. J. WATRAL 4 2,184,245

DRAINER BASKET Filed Aug. 31, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 am (R Q Q) J fiHEN/f n/ WAT/M1,

lNVENTOR,

BY Wag? ATTORNEY- Patented Dec; 19, 1939 UNITED 1 STATES PATENT, OFFICE7 2,184,245 '1 DRAINEB. BASKET Henry J. Watral, Astoria, N. Y.

Application August 31, 1933, Serial No. 227,623

ally contain an elongated separate small basket or compartment securedtherein for the silver, that is the eating utensils used at the table,aside of the dishes, cups and "the like, usually called the' silvertray. I

- Now, it is a very desirable and necessary quality of such drainerbaskets that they should be adapted to be placed telescopically one intothe other, an operation usually called nesting, whereby a great numberof such baskets may be put 20 into a telescopical relation to oneanother, into a comparatively small space, for shipping or storage. Itwill be obvious that such nestingwill result in great saving of space,labor, materials for wrapping and boxing, and will make such packing,shipping and storage more convenient.

With the drainer baskets having their silver tray secured in the basket,as it is most desirable, such nesting is impossible since the silvertray of the lower basket will prevent a nesting of the :u) upper onetherein. To avoid this drawback,

drainer baskets have been made in which the silver tray is securedoutside of the drainer basket, usually on one side of the upper framethereof. i This would permit nesting but will make the construction anduse of the drainer basket awkward, inconvenient for shipping, storage,etc., it also will use larger space than the basket itself, and willcause trouble and awkward operations to pack such nesteddrainer baskets.

40 It has also been proposed to make the silver tray hinged on saidupper frame member and to swing it inwardly when the basket is in useand swing it outwardly when several baskets are shipped or stored, and anesting is desired. Such 5 baskets also have been constructed but theyhave the drawback of being awkward and cumbersome in use and in storage,and their construction also is more expensive than that of the simplebaskets, and the hinged elements will also be ready sources an oftrouble, particularly causing the usual coating, like tin, rubber,etc.,. on the wires of the basket and of the silver tray, to rust, peeland quickly deteriorate, as Will be obvious.

Another object of my*invention is to provide 55 a drainer basket with asilver tray permanently secured therein, which will permit a readynesting of a number of such baskets one, in the other, including thesilver trays.

A further object of my invention is to provide a drainer basket of thischaracter, which will be 5 simpler than such baskets now in use, will beinexpensive to manufacture, and will be more adapted to tinning orrubber coating than the baskets of similar construction now in use.

Other objects of my invention will be apparent as the specification ofthe same proceeds.

In the drawings, forming a part of this specification, and accompanyingthe same:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a drainer basket according to my invention, aportion of the same having been broken away;

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional elevation thereof along the line 2-2 ofFig. 1; while Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional elevation along theline 3-4 of Fig. 1-; and I 26 of my drainer basket, and

Figs. 6 and 7 are fragmentary plan view and a sectional elevation,respectively, of another modification of such a silver tray.

Referring now to the drawings more in detail, by characters ofreference, the numeral l0 indicates my drainer basket proper beingcomposed of three elements, namely, the longitudinal wire members I I,the transverse wire members I2,,and an upper wire frame l3,. The majorportions of the longitudinal wires ll, indicated by the numerals Ila,are of straight lines, and so are the 85 two side portions of thetransverse wires l2, indicated by the numerals I2a. At the points ofintersection of said two systems of wires, indicated by the numerals M,the same are secured to one another, as by welding, so that the straight40 portions of said wires will form the bottom structure of my drainerbasket.

The end portions of the longitudinal wires II are bent upwardly in anoutwardly inclined direction, as indicated at llb (Fig.3), forming thetwo transverse sides of my drainer basket, and, in a similar manner, thetwo ends of the transverse wires l2 are bent upwardly and outwardly inan inclined manner, as indicated at I217, said outwardly inclinedportions of said transverse wires l2 forming the longitudinal sides ofmy basket. The upper frame member l3 also shows two longitudinal sides,13a and I31), and two transversesides [3c and I3d, to which are securedthe upper ends of the inclined wire portions I212 and lib respectively,by any appropriate means, as by welding, as indicated at l5. Legs l6 maybe secured to the bottom wires, at appropriate places, if desired.

A specially constructed silver tray, generally indicated by the numeralI1, is secured to an appropriate portion of my drainer basket, in theembodiment here shown, it being arranged alongside of the transverseupper frame member I311.

In the preferred embodiment of said silver tray, shown in Figs. 1 to 3,it is formed of a longitudinal wire loop, generally indicated by thenumeral I 8, and being formed of the side members 19 and 20, and end orcross members 2| and 22. The side members l9 and 20 are of straight lineformation and are secured to and on the longitudinal bottom wires H byany appropriate means, as again by welding, and as indicated at 23. Theend portions of the loop l8, indicated by the numerals l9a and 20a, andI9b and 20b, respectively, are also bent upwardly and outwardly in aninclined manner, their plane of inclination being identical to thatcontaining the inclined ends l2b of the transverse bottom wires l2, sothat, in a word, the end portions of the said loop l8 form parts of thetwo longitudinal sides of my drainer basket.

A plurality of cross loops, generally indicated by the numeral 24, aresecured on the longitudinal wires l9 and 20 of the longitudinal loop [8of my silver tray, by any appropriate means, as by welding, as indicatedat 25.

Each of said cross loops 24 is again formed by two main portions 26 and21 and two end portions 28 and 29. The central part of said mainportions is generally of straight lines, while the outer ends 26a, 21a,26b and 21b thereof are bent upwardly and outwardly in an inclinedmanner to form the two longitudinal sides of the silver tray. Theinclination of the sides 26b and 21b is again of such a direction thatsaid inclined portions 26b and 21b of the silver tray will fall into theplane of the inclined portions llb of the longitudinal wires, formingthe transverse side of my drainer basket adjacent and secured to theframe member l3d, while the other longitudinal side of the silver tray,formed by the wire portions 26a and 21a is bent out wardly and upwardlyinclined, similar to the said portions 26b-and 21b, but in a reverse,opposite direction, as will be best seen in Fig. 3. Upwardly projectingloops I2c are formed in the centers of the transverse bottom wires l2,all of said loops also being inclined in one direction, in the caseshown, towards the side l3c of the upper frame, said loops beingprovided to receive the dishes to be drained in an inclined manner, asit is well known in this art.

In Fig.' 3, I indicate the manner in which several of my drainer basketsmay be telescopically placed into one another, that is, how they areadapted to the nesting operation. In said figure, my drainer basket I0is shown as nesting in a lower similar drainer basket, indicated in animaginary manner by dot and dash lines, and generally designated by thenumeral 30, and it is shown that the respective right hand inclinedsides of the two drainer baskets may be placed in a telescopical manner,side by side, the elements of the silver trays in the planes of saidsides naturally being telescopically placed into one another within saidsides, while the inner longitudinal side of the lower silver tray, beingformed by the elements generally indicated in the imaginary dot and dashline showing by the numeral 3|, and corresponding to the elements 26aand 21a in the upper basket, will pass through the spaces in the bottomof the upper basket between the longitudinal wires ll thereof, while atthe same time the spaces between said elements 3|, indicated in Fig. 1by the numerals 32, and the end spaces 33 at the two ends of the silvertray, will permit said longitudinal wires I I in the bottom of the uppertray to enter within the confines of the silver tray in the lower basketand pass downwardly through said spaces 32 and 33, respectively, as willbe understood,.and as all the elements of both drainer baskets have thesame, inclination, nothing will be in the way of the nesting, as shownin Fig. 3. It also will be understood that initially when starting suchnesting operation, theside portions I2a of the closest bottom transversewires l2 in the upper basket will have to avoid the horizontal upperwire elements 28 in the loops in the inner side.

of the silver tray of the lower basket. For this purpose the upperbasket at the start will be shifted somewhat to the left, as seen inFig. 3 so as to cause its said nearest bottom wires We to clear, to theleft, the upper cross branches 28 in the inner side loops of the silvertray of the lower basket, whereupon the upper basket may be moved backin a right handed direction and permitted to sink downwardly into thelower basket. The same initial avoidance of the wires 28, in the lowersilver tray, by the nearest bottom wires l2a, in the upper basket, maybe aided by tilting the upper basket somewhat upwardly at its left end(Fig. 3) when it still is at a distance above the lower basket and thenrighting it when said wires 12a have passed around and underneath saidwires 28.

I may rema; that the construction of a drainer basket, as herein shownand described, will give a simple but novel and attractive appearance tothe basket, and will also be particularly adapted for covering all theelements of the basket and of the silver tray therein with rubber, as itis I desired of better grade goods of such type.

In Figs. 4 and 5, a modified form of the construction of my silver trayis indicated. In this modification, the silver tray is not formed ofindividual wire loops 24, as in the preferred embodiment describedhereinbefore, but it will be made of one single piece of wire 34, whichis bent and looped in the manner indicated in Fig. 4, whereupon the twosides thereof will be upwardly bent, as indicated at 35 and 36 in Fig.5, thereby forming a silver tray adapted to be secured to the bottom ofa drainer basket, and to be used for the telescopic or nesting operationdescribed hereinbefore.

In this embodiment no ends, similar to 2| and 22 in the preferredembodiment, are made for the silver tray, while suitable bends may beprovided for such purpose also in the single wire 34, as will beobvious. The lines of bending are indicated in an imaginary manner bythe dot and dash lines 35a and 36a in Fig. 4.

Another modified construction of the silver tray is indicated in Figs. 6and '7. In this modification, the silver tray is formed of a singlepiece of sheet material 31, having a plurality of extensions or fingers38 at the two sidesthereof and similar fingers or extensions 39 at thetwo ends. After bending these fingers or extensions in the mannerindicated in Fig. 7, the silver tray, made of a single piece of sheetmaterial, may be secured to the bottom wires of the drainer basket andused as described hereinbefore. The

lines of bending in this'modification are indicated by the dot and dashlines 40, 4|, and 42.

What I claim'is new, is:

1. In a drainer basket, having a basket proper with an open work bottom,a silver tray having upstanding side walls and a bottom immovablysecured within said basket proper, the upstanding side walls for saidsilver tray being formed of spaced apart elements, the spaces betweensaid elements being open at the top so as to permit respective membersin said open work bottom to pass downwardly through the open tops intosaid spaces when a drainer basket is caused to nest in another onetherebelow, said spaced apart elements in the silver tray of said lowerbasket at the same time passing upwardly through respective openings insaid bottom of the upper basket.

2. In a drainer basket, as set forth in claim 1, said silver tray beingformed of an elongated wire member, the major central portion of whichfollows the plane of the bottom of the basket and being secured thereto,its two ends being bent upwardly to form the ends of the silver tray,and a plurality of transverse wire loops secured on said elongated wiremember, the end portions of said transverse wire loops being bentupwardly to form the two sides of the silver tray. 3. In a drainerbasket, as set forth in claim 1, saidsilver tray being formed of a pieceof wire shaped into a continuous row of loops, the ends of said loopsbeing turned upwardly to form the two sides of the silver tray.

4. In a drainer basket, as set forth in claim 1,

said silver tray being formed of a bottom member having fingersprojecting from the circumference thereof, said fingers being bentupwardly to form the sides of the silver tray.

5. In a drainer basket, as set forth in claim 1, said silver tray beingformed of a bottom member of a piece of sheet material, havingprojections formed around the circumference thereof, said projectionsbeing adapted to project upwardly to form the sides and ends of thesilver tray.

HENRY J. WATRAL

